Home Sellers Need to Step Up to The Plate for a Real Estate Value Check

According to a study by economist Gary Englehart of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center , many home owners have not adjusted their price expectations downward to keep in sync with actual declines in values since 2008 .This has contributed to a wide gap between what sellers are hoping for and savvy buyers knowing what prices should be to sell .In some ways they are acting like the bankers who are holding their mortgages , who "hold and pretend" the old prices still are valid .This could work if there were just a limited number of distressed homes to work out, but since there are millions of them , this game has to end. We see signs banks are starting to speed up short sales so we can hope these changes will take hold and become a more realistic disposition program ,where everyone benefits in the long run . Zillow conducted a study in mid-2011 that found that people who bought their homes in 2007 or later thought their homes were 14 % higher than their actual sales value.But sellers who actually need to sell now for reasons ,such as a divorce, downsizing, or moving to a new area turn out to be "more reasonable" in general.If we could put this same sense of urgency to sell at market prices into the minds and hearts of home sellers and bankers , the housing problem would end sooner rather than later .